Smuttynose Gets a New Brewery

Very big & exciting news for fans of Portsmouth’s own Smuttynose Brewing Co.: A new brewery has been a discussion for Smuttynose for quite awhile (I first wrote about it back in December of ’07) as they’ve long since outgrown their relatively small Establishment on the outskirts of Portsmouth. Well, according to SeacoastOnline.com, the brewery and its owner, Peter Egelston, gained approval from all the right Planning Boards last night to move its brewery to Hampton, NH. From SeacoastOnline,

Smuttynose Brewery is moving to Hampton. The Planning Board on Wednesday night approved Smuttynose president Peter Egelston’s plans to build a bigger and better brewery in Hampton.

Smuttynose is currently located at 225 Heritage Ave. in Portsmouth in a 25,000-square-foot facility. The lot soon to be the new home of the brewery is a 14-acre property owned by Gregory and Jennifer Sancoff at 105 Towle Farm Road in Hampton.

The new brewing facility will be 42,000 square feet. On the same property, Smuttynose will convert a barn into a restaurant.

And Peter seems to be true to his word. As he told me in December, he would like the new brewery to be as “green” as possible. And sure enough, according to the article, he’s:

planning for the new brewery to meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification qualification. Some “green” technology that Egelston is considering includes the use of rainwater in plumbing and a co-generation power source, which is the use of a heat engine or a power station to simultaneously generate both electricity and heat.

No word yet on when the new brewery and restaurant will be open or if there will be any sort of grand opening celebration (but you can bet, if there is, I sure as shootin’ will be there) but I’ll keep you posted when I hear of anything. In the meantime, congrats Pete & crew; a bigger brewery can only mean more Smuttynose and that’s alright with me!